The invention relates to a tear webbing including two fabric straps superposed face-to-face along a partial length 1.sub.T and woven or sewn together by a binding yarn. Pulling forces applied to the unconnected strap ends are introducible to the contact region, resulting in a progressive tearing (separation) of the strap connection while an irreversible energy absorption takes place. The two fabric straps can be interwoven directly during the weaving process or can be sewn together subsequent to being manufactured separately.
Tear webbing of the type mentioned above lend themselves to a variety of applications. In general they can be used anywhere where shock is to be absorbed, and moving masses of bodies must be stopped or decelerated in a controlled manner. Examples of use for tear webbings are parachute harnesses or crash safety harnesses for persons exposed to danger such as window cleaners, roofers or mountain climbers. If such a person is caught by a safety strap which is attached to a tear webbing as outlined above, the fall is not stopped abruptly, which could lead to considerable injuries, but is more gradually decelerated because a progressive tearing of the tear webbing irreversibly absorbs the kinetic energy of the fall. Compared with elastic safety belts, these tear webbings, consequently, have the additional advantage that they lack a rebound effect.
Tear webbings of the above type are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,894, or, without binding yarns between the fabric strips, from U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,698. These tear webbings are used in parachute harnesses. In the tear webbing according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,894, two superimposed fabric straps are woven together by means of a plurality of binding yarns. Due to opposing tensile forces which attack the unconnected ends of the fabric straps and which are transverse to the plane of the fabric straps, the connection of the straps can be progressively torn in the longitudinal direction, thus resulting in an irreversible energy absorption.
In the tear webbing according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,698, three fabric straps are superposed face-to-face over a portion of their length. The connecting region is produced by a meandering (looped) positioning of one of the straps. Due to the tensile forces acting on the plane of the strap ends, the connecting region tears progressively in the longitudinal direction under irreversible energy absorption. The tear webbing according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,698 is held together by an adhesive rather than by binding yarns between the fabric straps.
The energy absorption which can be obtained basically depends on the strength of the woven structure of the fabric straps and the stability and density of the binding yarn connecting the two fabric straps. In order to increase the absorbable energy, the fabric straps and their connection are currently dimensioned to be stronger which can be effected by the use of stronger and more durable weaving yarn as well as by an enlargement of the fabric strap itself and its tearable connection.